Ku Band or Kurtz-under band’s basic purpose is for the communication between satellites, in particular for broadcasting and editing the satellite programs. This is dividing into various sections according to the geographical locations.

It is part of the frequency range of electromagnetic waves in the small range of the frequencies that go to 11.7 Ghz - 12.7 Ghz. for downlink and 14 - 14.5GHz for the uplink frequency.

NBC was the first television commercial network who used this band mostly for its affiliates.

The Ku band covers the Americas, with over 21 different satellites currently orbiting the North American region alone. These numbers will most likely increase with time.The various satellites require a 1m (roughly) antenna in order to perform at their best, and for clear response of the frequencies use anywhere from 20 - 120 watts of energy.

The frequency segment ranging from 12.2Ghz - 12.7Ghz is apportioned for the BSS alone.

Segment which represent for the Europe and Africa is known as ITU Region 1 which is appropriated for the FSS (fixed satellite service) with a frequency of around 14 Ghz.

Difficulties in the KU band

A particular problem shows up in the higher frequencies that are received and transmitted bewtween the satellite and end user, in different areas where it rains cats and dogs (read: it pours rain constantly). This problem obviously is because of the rain and it’s quantity. The rain intereferes with the signals, and can cause a lot of static, which seems like quite a problem for the rainy regions. However, there are tricks around it (of sorts).

This difficulty can be overcome by making a strategy appropriate for the link and within the budget, when planning the network. Allocating high power consumption can help to defeat the loss of signal quality caused by the rain. For the end user of the antenna, in the heavy rain (such as 100 mm in an hour), a detectable effect can be seen.

The higher frequencies used by this band are hypersensitive in comparison with that of the C band, as the Ku band is defenseless in the rain, where as the Ka band frequencies stand a bit more of a chance.

A similar problem is occur in the winter season which is known as “snow fade”, which occurs when snow collects in the dish receiver of the antenna causing a form of static to interfere with the signal.

Ku band requires more energy to send the data than what C band satellite requires, and also requires a smaller dish.

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